


Normal Again

by semele



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2011-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 21:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semele/pseuds/semele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena's moved on, and her life is all normal now. See? All normal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Normal Again

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by ever-neutral: _You can have my absence of faith_

“So you are all normal now, right? A house with a white fence and everything?”

“I am.”

“And you've moved on?”

“Yes, I've moved on. It's vampires who think that they're gonna live forever, so they can brood over their issues for centuries, Damon. Humans actually _deal_ with stuff.”

“Yeah. Right.”

***

Elena lives in Richmond now, she has a job and a cat, she cooks her meals and keeps in touch with her brother, and sometimes she even manages to forget about all the mess she's put behind her. She is a survivor and a grown-up; she doesn't act out like Alaric, and she doesn't hold on to her sadness like Jeremy. Instead she has a girls' night out with Caroline and Bonnie every Thursday, and she occasionally dates guys who's never ripped an innocent citizen apart. Everything is back to normal.

Damon visits her every now and then; sometimes he even has the decency to call her first, but usually he just shows up and expects her to be thrilled about it. Elena rolls her eyes and treats him like a nuisance for at least fifteen minutes (once she even slammed the door in his face, but he just kept singing _Dixie_ until she let him in, so she doesn't try that any more), but she makes him a cup of coffee and lets him talk nonsense for a while.

(She really should stop letting him in, but he's already been invited.)

***

It doesn't always end like this: a mess on the table, her shirt on the floor and his pants on an armchair. It's nothing, really; it's just her stepping away from her life for five minutes, five minutes, that's all. It doesn't even count as using him, because they are on the same page, finally. Damon reverently kisses her hip (Damon loves to put up a show), and she can feel him relax under her touch; they have an understanding.

They both deserve this moment of peace, so Elena lets her smile peel off her face. Damon grabs her hand and places it on his hair, so that she could lead him exactly as she wants; she's earned this level of sincerity a long time ago. One day, Elena keeps telling herself, one day they are going to stop needing this, and everything will look differently. He will rip her heart out like he ripped Bree's, or she will stake him like she means it, or maybe he will turn her and they will cause death and mayhem for a good part of a century. This will happen any day now, she thinks as she arches her back, because this balance based on things they don't have any more is just bound to fall apart. Any day now.

Any day.


End file.
